Williams' interception sparks Pitt's blowout of Syracuse

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Top 25 Overview

It was over when... Greg Williams' pick-six gave Pittsburgh all the lead it would need. Gameball goes to... Bill Stull, who completed 16-of-23 for 225 yards and one TD. Stat of the game... 6. Pitt freshman Dion Lewis has run for over 100 yards in six games. Complete Top 25 Overview

Team Stat Comparison
1st Downs	19	23
Total Yards	285	481
Passing	141	234
Rushing	144	247
Penalties	5-30	8-65
3rd Down Conversions	3-13	7-14
4th Down Conversions	0-2	0-1
Turnovers	3	1
Possession	27:52	32:08

Air/Ground Leaders
Syracuse Passing   C/ATT YDS TD INT Paulus 12/18 120 0 2 Nassib 5/16 21 0 1	Pittsburgh Passing   C/ATT YDS TD INT Stull 16/23 225 1 0 Sunseri 1/2 9 0 0
Syracuse Rushing   CAR YDS TD LG Carter 17 143 0 58 Davis 3 33 0 20	Pittsburgh Rushing   CAR YDS TD LG Lewis 18 110 1 32 Baldwin 1 61 0 61
Syracuse Receiving   REC YDS TD LG Sales 4 36 0 11 Carter 1 22 0 22	Pittsburgh Receiving   REC YDS TD LG Dickerson 7 118 1 53 Lewis 2 42 0 31

Scoring Summary
FIRST QUARTER				SYR	PITT
	FG	12:21	Ryan Lichtenstein 29 Yd	3	0
	FG	08:05	Dan Hutchins 19 Yd	3	3
SECOND QUARTER				SYR	PITT
	FG	09:24	Dan Hutchins 45 Yd	3	6
	TD	01:20	Greg Williams 51 Yd Interception Return (Dan Hutchins Kick)	3	13
THIRD QUARTER				SYR	PITT
	TD	10:38	Dion Lewis 1 Yd Run (Dan Hutchins Kick)	3	20
	TD	06:37	Dorin Dickerson 14 Yd Pass From Bill Stull (Dan Hutchins Kick)	3	27
FOURTH QUARTER				SYR	PITT
	FG	11:03	Dan Hutchins 33 Yd	3	30
	TD	05:47	Cedric Mcgee 29 Yd Run (Dan Hutchins Kick)	3	37
	TD	01:03	Averin Collier 1 Yd Run (Ryan Lichtenstein Kick)	10	37

PITTSBURGH -- Finally, Pittsburgh (No. 13 BCS, No. 14 AP) can look ahead to Notre Dame, West Virginia and Cincinnati. Even if it seemed the Panthers were already doing exactly that during most of the first half against Syracuse.

Greg Williams' 51-yard interception return for a touchdown just before halftime got slow-starting Pittsburgh going, and the Panthers extended their best start to a season since 1982 by beating Syracuse 37-10 on Saturday.

Fast Facts

• Pitt continues to roll, winning seven of its last eight meetings against Syracuse.

• Freshman Dion Lewis ran for 110 yards and a touchdown, marking the sixth time this season he's broken the 100-yard barrier.

• Bill Stull was 16 for 23 for 225 yards and a touchdown for the Panthers.

• Greg Williams had a 51-yard interception return for Pitt.

-- ESPN Stats & Information

Dion Lewis ran for 110 yards and a touchdown for the freshman's sixth 100-yard game, tight end Dorin Dickerson caught his 10th touchdown pass this season and the Panthers (8-1, 5-0 in Big East) won their fifth in a row heading into next Saturday's game against Notre Dame (No. 22 BCS, No. 19 AP).

"It is a big game. We've got to have a good week of practice, bring our `A' game and we can't start off slowly like we did today," Lewis said. "We've got to keep coming."

Bill Stull was 16 of 23 for 225 yards and no interceptions as the Panthers, who last were 8-1 in Dan Marino's senior season 27 years ago, set themselves up for a possible Big East title-deciding game against Cincinnati (No. 5 BCS, No. 4 AP) on Dec. 5.

If the Bearcats beat Connecticut on Saturday night and West Virginia on Friday, the Cincinnati-Pitt game will determine the conference's BCS bowl participant regardless of the Pitt-West Virginia result on Nov. 27.

"Now we've got three tough games and we'll take them one by one," defensive lineman Gus Mustakas said.

Pitt played much of the first half as if it couldn't wait to begin its difficult closing stretch, leading 6-3 until Williams intercepted a pass by Greg Paulus that was tipped by Jabaal Sheard for his third career touchdown with 1:20 left in the half. Pitt outscored Syracuse 24-7 after that.

"I think we did a good job of keeping our feet on the ground, knowing the importance of this conference game putting us 5-0, coming out and not taking nothing for granted," coach Dave Wannstedt said. "We got it going in the second half."

Lewis, lightly recruited in prep school last season but fourth nationally in rushing with 1,139 yards, finished off a 55-yard drive by scoring from the 1 early in the third quarter to make it 20-3. His 78 points on 13 touchdowns tie Tony Dorsett (1973) for the second most by a Pitt freshman, trailing only LeSean McCoy's 90 points two seasons ago.

"My teammates and coaches expect me to make big plays and that's what I'm out there doing," said Lewis, who has surpassed former Big East backs such as Steve Slaton, Ray Rice, Amos Zereoue and Kevin Jones in freshman-season rushing.

Paulus to Williams normally is a productive combination for Syracuse (3-6, 0-4), which lost its 29th in its last 32 Big East games. But the Orange clearly missed leading receiver Mike Williams, who quit the team on Monday after averaging 106.6 yards receiving per game.

Neither Paulus (12 of 18, 120 yards, 2 interceptions) nor backup Ryan Nassib (5 of 16, 21 yards, 1 interception) did much as Delone Carter's 143 yards rushing represented most of Syracuse's offense. The Orange came into the game ranked 106th in offense.

"We didn't execute, we didn't score and that's disappointing," Carter said.

Syracuse not only played without Williams and three suspended players -- running back Antwon Bailey, defensive end Torrey Ball and guard Andrew Tiller -- but tight end Cody Catalina (knee) and safety Max Suter (arm) didn't return after being injured in the first half.

"We only traveled with 55 players," coach Doug Marrone said. "Some of those injuries forced us to come out of our packages. That obviously limited us on both sides of the ball."

Pitt won its fifth in a row and seventh in eight games in the series. Syracuse has lost its last nine to ranked opponents.

The Panthers led 481-285 in yardage and have a 967-497 edge while winning their last two games by a combined 78-24, beating South Florida 41-14 on Oct. 24. Pitt ran for 247 yards against a Syracuse defense that came in allowing an average of 88.9. The Panthers also had six sacks, giving them 39 for the season.

Dickerson, who had two career TD catches coming into his senior season, leads all major college tight ends with his 10 touchdowns -- the most by any Pitt receiver since Greg Lee had 10 in 2004.